LAS VEGAS — Coach Pete Carroll says now is the time. That as the Las Vegas Raiders make the turn into the second half of what has been a losing season thus far, rookie wide receivers Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Jack Bech need to step up and make more of a difference.

OK. Then let them.

“I mean, we’re kind of there,” Carroll said. “I’ve already mentioned that to those guys. That this is where we count on them to come through and be cleaner with their assignments and sharper and just on it better than they’ve been earlier.

“And hopefully, that’s what we’ll see down the stretch.”

Hopefully, they’re both given enough opportunities to do so.

It’s time to see what the Raiders have in their young wideouts. You can’t do that with how they’ve been utilized so far. You need to make both a bigger part of the plan.

Focus on future

The Raiders are 2-7 heading into a “Monday Night Football” matchup with the Dallas Cowboys at Allegiant Stadium. It’s not as if Carroll’s team is charging toward a playoff berth. It has to learn all it can about its young players.

It needs to — as much as some in the organization despise this thought process — focus more on the future than the present.

It might be different if the Raiders were contending in the AFC West. If a postseason berth looked possible. In that case, veteran wide receiver Jakobi Meyers might not have been traded. But that’s not reality.

So, you deal with it. Which means you don’t spend a second-round pick on one receiver (Bech) and a fourth-round pick on another (Thornton) and not see where they might fit in your long-term plans.

You accept the mistakes of each (and there have been some) and live with them for now. You understand they’re not going to be flawless.

You give them snaps over a recently signed veteran like Tyler Lockett, who likely won’t return next season.

“Each and every game you try and grow and get better,” Bech said. “New lessons every week. How everything works in the offense, how everything works in the league. You grow from the positives and negatives, no matter what’s going on.

“I agree it’s time to go now. It was a little bit of a rookie mindset for me and (Thornton) the first half of the season, but now I think we have the mindset to keep grinding and to show everybody what we have.”

Mistakes. Maybe it’s Bech being called for a holding penalty that wipes out a long run. Or maybe it’s Thornton dropping a deep sideline pass. Or maybe it’s him being flagged for offensive pass interference, wiping out what could have been a touchdown for Tre Tucker.

Maybe, just maybe, a guy like Bech should be playing more than 14 snaps.

Learning and growing

“I think everyone’s learning curve is different in this league,” quarterback Geno Smith said. “And whether you’re a rookie or a 10-year veteran, there’s a lot that we all can get better from and continue to learn from. For a young guy, I think it’s really exciting, because there’s a lot to learn, there’s a lot they don’t know and there’s a lot of room for growth and improvement.

“Those guys are learning and growing. It’s just that they’re learning kind of like I did when I was a rookie, learning in front of the world. I mean, that’s really what it is, and you make those mistakes or whatever you may call it in front of the world and you learn from it. We’re watching film at 6 a.m. every morning in order to get that done. And I think there’s going to be a lot of progress that is made.”

There needs to be much of it from both young receivers. It starts with the Raiders giving them more opportunities to learn what they have.

I mean, what’s there to lose?

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